The Council Hall of the Seraphim
"And you think this is normal?!" The voice of Raphael, the Seraphim guardian of Earth, thundered under the high, shining vaults of the Council Hall. He waved his arms furiously, addressing the others, his usually calm face now contorted with anger and poorly concealed panic. He had recently returned from his trip to Earth, where Adam had gone with his companions. Raphael had... followed him for a bit, and what he saw... frightened him. "Remember, Adam has never behaved like this! Never!"
This time, the Seraphim had gathered to discuss the upcoming battle with Eve and possible ways to help in the fight against her forces. However, at some point, as was often the case lately, the conversation smoothly shifted to discussing Adam himself, and this circus began, in which each of those present enthusiastically started listing all the oddities they had noticed about the Archangel, while poor Sera was forced to listen to it all, trying to maintain a mask of imperturbability. "Never mind his eccentric, almost clownish behavior! But his character... it has literally changed! Completely! How can this even be explained? Beings who have lived for millennia can't just change in a single, fucking, instant! This is definitely some external influence on his consciousness!"
"The last time I checked Adam, I found no Darkness in him, nor any other clear signs of outside interference," Sera replied calmly, trying not to show her fatigue, looking at her raging brother with hidden sadness. After Lucifer fell... Trust among the inhabitants of Heaven, and especially among the Seraphim themselves, was for a long time extremely fragile, almost illusory. The Seraphim were terrified that one of them might fall into Darkness again. After all, if even Lucifer—their Father's beloved son—committed such an act, then no one else was any better, right? Only in the last few thousand years, after the bloody war with Hell, had everyone more or less begun to feel that fragile, past trust again. And now, again! First, the information about Lilith's rebellion, then these strange, frightening changes in Adam, and, as the cherry on top—Darkness in Heaven itself! The paranoia, which seemed to have vanished without a trace, flared up in the souls of the Seraphim with a new, tripled force. This was especially true for poor Raphael, who had, in essence, missed all the demons' actions right under his nose—on Earth!
"But how do you then explain the drastic change in his character?!" Michael interrupted her. After their last private conversation about Adam, he had been surprisingly calm in the face of such accusations, not starting to get paranoid and build some stupid, unfounded theories like Raphael. "There are literally no factors that could have influenced him so strongly. Not a single one. But he has changed, and he has changed a lot. What are our options?"
"I don't know," Sera was forced to admit with bitterness, remembering the old Adam. Tired of life, completely disillusioned with all of humankind, sadistically enjoying the "punishment" for sinners, narcissistic, selfish, and proud. In this, to be honest, he even reminded her a little of Lucifer in his "best" years...
"Perhaps the most correct thing would be to ask him himself?" Sarakiel unexpectedly spoke up, having been silently sipping his tea and not interfering in their argument until that moment. "Well, what?" he shrugged when the gazes of everyone present immediately turned to him. "Unlike all of you, I've been working quite closely with him lately. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get a rise out of him, unlike in the old days," the Seraph chuckled, setting his cup aside. "The current Adam seemed to me an extremely kind and understanding being. At the same time, I could see in him a sincere, genuine love for his lieutenant, as well as a deep respect for his other comrades-in-arms. It turns out that Adam wasn't replaced, corrupted, or anything of the sort. On the contrary, he seems to have become an embodiment of Him. He has the exact same character as our Father."
"What the fuck are you saying?!" Raphael exploded, jumping up from his seat. "That's blasphemy!"
"You call it blasphemy only because you are comparing the past Adam with the Father," Sarakiel answered him calmly. "I know the current Adam, and I can vouch for him. He is not evil, not Darkness, and not a traitor. He is an Archangel and the commander-in-chief of our army. I have complete faith in him, and I have no intention of participating in his capture and interrogation, should any of you have such foolish thoughts. That is my word," setting his cup aside, the chief engineer of Heaven said firmly, eyeing his brothers and sister with a serious, unyielding gaze.
"Ahem," Sera immediately intervened to prevent a brewing argument. "No one was planning to attack Adam and 'interrogate' him, don't exaggerate, Sarakiel..." the Head of the Seraphim said quickly, before anyone present completely lost their temper. "Let's better return to the topic of our discussion today: a possible attack by Eve on Heaven. Any thoughts on this?"
The meeting continued. But now Adam was discussed not as a possible, potential threat, but as the main combat unit who would need their maximum support…
It took me another fifteen minutes to calm Emily down. This girl, as I suspected, had been in complete turmoil for the past few days, literally torn between two "truths," unable to find her place. Well, that's normal. The main thing is that it all ended this way, and not with her final fall and an unexpected attack on Heaven led by a newly-minted fallen Seraph…
After those fifteen minutes of my consolations and explanations, Emily, exhausted from the emotional stress, simply lost consciousness. I had noticed before that she looked extremely unwell—sleepy, exhausted, although it wasn't that late. But apparently, she was really suffering from insomnia because of all her worries, so a full night's sleep was very important for her right now. Without thinking of waking her, I just quietly left her apartment, leaving a short note on the nightstand by the bed, which was, in essence, insurance in case she went crazy when she woke up and still decided to gobble down that fateful fruit… And yes, the spy drone also continued to watch her. But it wasn't distrust, no! It was insurance!
Why didn't I just find and take that damn apple from her? I just wanted this kid to make her own choice. To refuse it herself. Or, at least, to take a bite of it in front of me. In any case, I wasn't going to restrict her. More precisely, of course, I was, but as discreetly as possible for her. So that until the very end, she would believe that she herself had chosen the only option that would suit me. Yes, not very "Light-like," but I wasn't going to risk my new home and my children, who had already chosen the right path.
Now, flying over the night city, shining with lights, and seeing the happy, carefree faces of the inhabitants of Heaven, who, noticing me, waved joyfully, I hated the Darkness for its very, fucking, existence more than ever before. If only it didn't exist, then everyone, absolutely everyone could live like this! If this world belonged only to the Light, then nothing bad would exist. All of humanity would simply not know about wars, murders, violence, and all that vile, disgusting crap! After death, everyone would go to Heaven and live forever in bliss and peace. And I wouldn't have to bust my archangel ass trying to keep the Darkness out of Heaven's territory, and I wouldn't be killing thousands of sinners every year just to let this very Heaven survive!
At that very moment, a very unpleasant, prickly thought arose in my head. But in the Light itself, there is also the concept of Death… of War… This thought even made me freeze in place for a moment, pondering it. No, to say that without Darkness there would be no wars and murders is stupid. After all, civil wars are often fought between patriots, and each side sincerely believes that it is fighting for a better future for their country… And murders… A police officer who shot an armed criminal is a hero, not a villain. And all sorts of psycho-maniacs arise not because the Darkness changed something in their heads, but because of deep psychological trauma, genetic mutations, or diseases. Sometimes, these psychos don't even realize that they are doing evil…
It turns out that all this shit would have happened anyway, and all these problems could only be solved with the direct, total intervention of Heaven. I doubt that the Seraphim created people for that. These feathered creators of the world seem to have made a mistake somewhere again, because even without the direct influence of Darkness, people, with their free will, would still have a very hard time finding common ground. And how can this be solved?
I continued my flight, enjoying this intoxicating feeling of freedom and continuing to throw around various options in my head. Well, let's say we'll solve the problem with Eve somehow. But that won't remove the Darkness from the world, nor the already established, rotten-to-the-core society with all its problems. So what the fuck to do then? Just give up? Not even funny. Introduce a universal faith in the progenitor of humanity, the God-Emperor, in my person? No, it sounds cool, of course, but to be honest, I don't need all this shit, because I already have responsibility coming out of my ears, and I doubt that this is the right path for humanity: they have been ruled by all sorts of tyrant-rulers throughout their history, and here just the monarch will change, and who cares if, perhaps, everything will get better for them—that doesn't change things.
Then we need to somehow change this society not from the outside, but from the inside. Gently, unobtrusively pushing humanity towards… I don't know… some utopian something that would contain all the pluses of democracy and communism, and at the same time not have their weaknesses. Well, I'm talking about universal equality-friendship-bubblegum and all that, but at the same time, you couldn't, just by having a glib tongue, spread all sorts of destructive nonsense and lead crowds of people. Something like that. And how the fuck to do that, if I, at a minimum, haven't been human for about 11,000 years, and at a maximum—I'll just go crazy doing all this from scratch? And then all sorts of "powers that be" will clearly want to shoot such a failed reformer, and I, for that, will want to twist off these idiots' heads. So what to do?
Purely in theory, I could seize the minds of the entire world government and, already controlling them like puppets, build a new, ideal society. Fortunately, my newfound skills in controlling the Darkness allow me to do this without any particular problems. But what about morality and all this "work of the Light"? What then, for fuck's sake, is the point of fighting the Darkness at all, if I myself will use it in such a dirty way?
And yes, the Darkness… Lucifer promised me a couple of magic lessons, didn't he? Well, our cheerful hatter kept his word.
One week ago. The Pride Ring. Lucifer's Underground Training Grounds.
"Alright, that should do it…" Lucifer said with satisfaction, looking at the huge boulder that now completely blocked the only entrance. "Ready?" he asked, turning to me with a sly, foxy smile.
"Yep, but I'm only interested in one specific area right now…" I reply, keeping a straight face, while already preparing to teleport a camera into my hands the moment the King of Hell hears what I want to study.
"Combat magic? Some purely combat-related concepts?" the duck-lover guessed. "I must admit, I'm not particularly strong in that area. I only possess the concept of Metamorphosis, but I think you already know that," he spread his hands.
So that's why he loves turning into all sorts of animals! And it seems it's not even related to the fact that the Seraphim themselves can change their appearance quite easily. And yeah, what is this "Metamorphosis" anyway? The more "blurry" a concept is, the harder it is to unlock, and this "metamorphosis" is just some incomprehensible thing that is definitely contained in both Light and Darkness.
"No, I'd like you to teach me about the Darkness…" I state perfectly calmly, internally cackling and anticipating his reaction.
"Wha?!"
"A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" The "King of Hell's" jaw literally hit the floor, and his expression was so comical that it took an incredible effort of will for me to hold onto the camera and capture the local big boss in such a state. "Fuck, look at your face! This is hilarious!" I continue laughing, even falling to the floor and shaking with laughter, holding my stomach.
Well, Luci, apparently thinking I was just joking, immediately put on a dead-serious expression, like a parent whose own child tried to scare them by jumping out from behind a corner (and succeeded).
"Ahem!" he even coughed rather gruffly, or something? In any case, my laughter, which had quieted down, only intensified.
"A-ha-ha-ha-ha, you should see yourself right now!"
"Hey, did you just take a picture of me?!" it suddenly dawned on him. "Give it back, now!" and now Lucifer lunged to take this priceless piece of blackmail from me.
Well, deciding to play along a little (and not to reveal that this entire wonderful moment was recorded by my helmet), I immediately jump up and start running away from him with a cheerful laugh.
"Oh come on, I'm sure Charlie will be absolutely delighted to see that her father, even at his respectable age, is still capable of such genuine surprise!"
"Give it back, I said!" His transformation into a horse and doubling his speed was a complete surprise to me, but not a fatal one, because I hadn't forgotten how to create portals yet.
A moment—and Lucifer, unable to brake in time, flies into the portal at full speed, which leads directly into the very stone boulder he had so dramatically used to block the entrance a minute ago.
"And Lilith will be so happy!" I continue my trolling, watching as Luci shakes off the stone dust and debris. "Maybe she'll even decide to come back to you from her heavenly resort."
"You wouldn't dare!" Yep, and now there was genuine fear in his voice. Is he really that afraid of looking foolish in front of his wife? I doubt it. Probably something else, but oh well, what do I care?
By the way, in the cartoon, it was said that they had a "fight" or something. From this, many viewers concluded that they were either divorced or something like that, but in fact, these two are still legally husband and wife, and such "breakups" happen to them about once every thousand years, for a not-so-long period—usually no more than twenty or thirty years, and then they get back together and live happily ever after again. For Charlie, seeing this for the first time, it was a real blow, but all the "in-the-know" people have long since stopped being surprised by anything. Except, perhaps, Lilith's desire to hang out in Heaven.
"Alright, alright, you hothead, calm down!" I hold out my hand as he starts walking towards me again with a determined look. "I'll give you back your camera if… you go out somewhere with Charlie, just the two of you." With this condition, I intended, firstly, to stop him again, and secondly, to surprise him as much as possible, knocking him off balance for a second.
"Huh?" and it worked. Unfortunately, his expression this time wasn't as funny as I had hoped, but oh well.
"Here," I toss him the camera. "Take your daughter somewhere, have some fun, it's painful to watch you two," I roll my eyes, sighing heavily. Seriously, he hasn't spoken to Charlie normally, it feels like, ever (not counting, of course, the last few weeks), and who has to solve their family problems? That's right, the great and wonderful me! I'm sick of it!
"Ahem… Okay… Thanks…" the King of Hell said, looking disbelievingly at the piece of blackmail I had so easily given him.
"Yeah, yeah, a full-length statue of me will be quite sufficient," I nod, catching his thoughtful gaze. "Ahem, so what about the training?" I change the subject.
"I can start with the basics of Light and then move on to more complex things. Or, if you want, I can try to explain concepts to you and even help you develop your own," he shrugged. Who does he take me for?
"Dude, you…" I sighed, and a blade of pure Light immediately formed in my palm, which a moment later began to shine not with the usual gold, but with a bright, white energy—Purity. Another moment—and I place a new "enchantment" on it, which Sarakiel had recently taught me. This enchantment allows you to mentally control any object, and it doesn't matter what space that object is in: Darkness or Light, the enchantment doesn't give a damn.
"..." There's that dropped jaw of his again. Apparently, our duck-lover didn't expect at all that Adam had really "leveled up" over the years. Heh, I can already imagine his reaction when I show him my Darkness too! God, now I think I'm starting to understand why you loved this cheerful asshole so much. His reactions are just hilarious!
"A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" I can't hold it in anymore and start laughing loudly, and Lucifer, having already come to his senses, looks around suspiciously, apparently looking for drone cameras. But there were none here.
"Ahem… So what exactly do you want to learn from me?" not quite understanding what I wanted from him now, Luci asked again.
"I'm telling you, I want to learn the Darkness," I say, "wiping" an imaginary tear from my mask, trying to calm down.
"Your joke won't work a second time," the Fallen Seraph said, narrowing his eyes.
"As you say…" a snap of my fingers, and the sword, woven from Light transformed into the concept of Purity, begins to change. First, the blade seems to crack, but I easily maintain its structure, and a moment later it is completely repainted in black and purple, and the Darkness begins to radiate from it with incredible force.
Yes! It worked! The floor was once again broken by Lucifer's jaw, his eyes bulged out of their sockets, looking like two huge balloons!
By the way, a very interesting fact about the Darkness that was in me: there was very, very little of it. Like really, mere drops, comparable to the Light reserve of ordinary angels, but the main difference was that the Darkness in me was so concentrated, so powerful, that even the total concentration of Light in my body was inferior to it, and by an order of magnitude. And I had absolutely no idea why it was like that.
"So what?" I broke the prolonged silence, which until then had been punctuated only by my quiet giggling.
"..." In response—silence and a King of Hell frozen in a stupor.
"Hey, sicko, coo-coo?" I walk up to him and start waving my palm in front of his face. "Hello-hello, Hell, do you copy?"
"..." blinking a couple of times, Lucifer licked his lips and finally began to come to his senses. "How did you… Where did you get the Darkness from?" he finally formulated the main question that interested him.
"Well, Eve came to visit recently, fed me an apple. I've been walking around with Darkness in my ass ever since, so what?" I shrugged.
"..." Lucifer looked at me with a mixture of shock and… a drop of respect. What's with him? "We have to… We have to inform the Seraphim immediately! There's still a chance to get it out of you… Although no, if you ate the Fruit of Knowledge, it's unlikely to work anymore…" Lucifer began to mumble something quickly under his breath, nervously biting his thumb.
"Hey, uncle, are you completely cuckoo? I wouldn't want the Seraphim to know about this for now," jokes aside. The Seraphim are too much of panickers, and until I myself have fully mastered my new abilities, I wouldn't want to show off my "upgrades."
The atmosphere in the huge, dark cave seemed to grow cold. I looked Lucifer straight in the eye, and he stared into mine, as if trying to see something there.
"..." He was the first to look away. "Alright. Maybe it's not something bad, especially knowing your true nature…"
"What do you mean, and why did you react so strangely to all this?" I also released the tension, returning to my more boisterous manner of communication.
"Well then, let's start our lesson with a small lecture on the nature of Darkness…" from the Darkness, Lucifer immediately formed a blackboard, a desk with a chair, a long pointer, and round-rimmed glasses…
"You're a fucking joker…" I chuckled, sitting down at the desk and preparing for my first "lesson."